Estimating the growth in emissions from AI data centres

Abstract

The advent of agentic AI is driving an unprecedented growth in data centre expansion. Using state-of-the-art life cycle assessment models for operational and embodied emissions from AI servers, we estimate the ensuing growth in overall CO2 emissions of AI data centres. The main contribution of this work is a rigorous quantification of emissions arising from projected AI data centre expansion using scenarios by the IEA and McKinsey. We show that the scenarios promoted by the AI industry would result in a dramatic rise in overall emissions and that the embodied carbon component is considerable.